Pet-Themed Proposals Help Guarantee a Yes

If you’re planning a Valentine’s Day marriage proposal, the key to your betrothed’s heart — and the yes you’re looking for — may be fuzzy and four-legged.

In the last year, we’ve seen plenty of pet-themed engagement stories, and we’ve rounded up some of our favorites below. If you’re ready to tie the knot, take notes. And if you’re not, they’ll still warm your heart!

Will You Marry Me (And This Kitty)?

Ryan Bentley was pretty sure his girlfriend would agree to marry him. But he figured having help from a tiny gray rescue kitten would only bolster his case. With assistance from his girlfriend’s mom, Bentley scoured local shelters, looking for the purrfect kitty companion for his big day. “I just thought it would be a good idea to have something memorable with the proposal that we’d be able to keep and love,” Bentley told ABC News. “Plus, I had to make sure she was going to say yes.”

Following dinner at the restaurant where they went for their first date, Bentley and his girlfriend, Emily Beckett, returned to her apartment. Beckett had no idea that her mom had sneaked the sweet kitten into the apartment while she and Bentley were out. When they first got home, Beckett was so enamored with the kitten that she didn’t even notice her collar. It read, “Emily, Will You Marry Me?”

She did say yes (of course!), and the North Carolina couple plans to live happily ever after with the cat, whom they aptly named Amore.

Pug Proposal in the Park

What better way to pop the question than with a parade of Pugs? Londoner Ed Grant went to great lengths to include many representatives of his girlfriend's favorite dog breed when he asked for her hand in marriage. He planned his vacation to New York City with girlfriend Alexandra Justins knowing that it would be a great place to propose. So he decided on a bridge in Central Park as the setting and then contacted a local Pug meetup group.

He quickly found 16 Pugs willing to don pink heart-shaped balloons and meet him and Justins at the bridge in November. "If we see a Pug (which is often), then Alex chases it down the road to say hello. Her face lights up when she sees Pugs," Grant said. The dogs were waiting on the bridge when the couple arrived — and Grant got exactly the reaction he was looking for.

“It made an incredibly special moment even more memorable,” said the bride-to-be.